Cougars player earns highest U SPORTS academic award
Basketball player Jade Belmore of Regina making her mark
If you follow the University of Regina’s Women’s Cougars basketball team, then you are no stranger to the name Jade Belmore. Belmore, who played 745 minutes on the court this season and averaged 18.9 points per game, has been a staple player for four seasons. She has collected many awards over the last few years, including University of Regina Female Athlete of the Year, but the biggest one came this season when she was selected as one of eight U SPORTS Academic All Canadian Athletes and was selected for an All-Star team.
Every season, the universities in the U SPORTS league nominate athletes from any sport in their programing that have an 80 per cent or higher academic average. There is no limit to how many athletes one institution can nominate. However, there is one male and one female athlete selected for U SPORTS Conference; four conferences select two athletes each, totaling eight athletes from across Canada. Belmore was selected as one out of as many as 4,900 nominees. This is the first time a U of R athlete has been selected since 2009 when men’s hockey player Kyle Ross became the Canada West male winner.
Belmore, a Regina native, has a deep appreciation for the Saskatchewan basketball community and how they have influenced her up to this point.
“I’ve been provided with tons of opportunities within the province,” Belmore said. “It specifically started when, after high school, I started to take it a little bit more seriously and started to do the more elite camps or tournaments. I would say it has totally given me the most exposure to be able to then play on the Cougars.”
The women’s basketball scene exploded this season with the arrival of Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Cameron Brink in the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBA). Belmore is excited about the accolades coming to her sport.
“I feel like it’s kind of blown up, which is amazing. Like, I obviously knew that for a long time, that it will. It would have had its time at some point,” she said. “But it’s really cool to kind of be in that upbringing and still be able to play basketball and playing the sport during this time is absolutely incredible. Not a lot of people will get to experience that. It’s so cool to see in front of my eyes.”
It is not lost on Belmore the talent that is emerging in the women’s basketball circuit: “I’ve been able to actually play against Brink, and Haley Van Lith is with some three-on-three Team Canada stuff. So just being able to actually compete with some of those athletes is really cool. I’m very fortunate to have had those opportunities. It’s very special for me, just being somebody from a smaller town, compared to those people who are kind of in the big leagues. It’s an amazing thing to be a part of, for sure.”
Belmore, who is in her fourth and final year of her Kinesiology degree, still has another year of eligibility with the Women’s Basketball program. She is currently applying for Master’s Programs and participating in her field work placement with Basketball Saskatchewan. She also received the Canada West Student-Athlete Community Service award on March 7.
Belmore’s words of advice for the younger generation of women’s basketball players are “keep going and keep working hard because there’s never an end to being better.”
